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Appearing in this Episode

Krystin is a native of St.Paul, MN and sticking to her roots, joined the Rival Angels Developmental division in Minneapolis. Krystin had been training for 14 months before being called up to the pro division.
Krystin is head strong, smart and talented, giving way to her self-titlted ‘Definition of Technician’ ring persona. Krystin is also unapologetic in her demeanor, ever the alpha-female.
Height: 5’8"
Weight: None of your business.
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Hometown: St. Paul , MN
Wrestling Style: Technical
Finishing Move: Texas Cloverleaf (submission)

Xtina is Spanish/Canadian!! She hails from toronto, canada by way of zaragoza, Spain.
A city girl with big city dreams, Xtina joined the Dark Angel Academy at the age of 18 to fulfill her dreams of becoming a pro wrestler. Xtina was a very active student in high school, participating in softball, track and cheerleading all four years and was named Athlete of the Month. For the most part, Xtina is good-natured and easy going and enjoys a bond with the fans.
Height: 5'7" Weight: 130 lbs. Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown Hometown: Toronto, Canada Wrestling Style: Technical Finishing Move: Sharpshooter

Chapter 15-Page-23-Grappling

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These two are putting on a grappling clinic and it looks like Krystin’s go the upper hand, er foot!

Schedule Break-Call for Fan Arts
Season 2 looks to end in the beginning of June and I’m going to take a few weeks off to get my comic buffer back up since it’s crazy low, before getting into Season 3! I’ll still be updating and if anyone wants to work on any Rival Angels fan arts, that would be a magnificent time to send them in so I can share them. on the site.

In the past, when someone had their legs around me in a submission, I’ve used the ankle to force them to roll away, but that doesn’t seem to be what happened, or what Krystin is going for. To me, it looks like Xtina could find a winning position by bringing her body up to Krystin’s back, crossing and bringing in her legs to nullify the lock, and yes, applying that sleeper. Or, failing the sleeper, Krystin being a competent opponent, a crank.

I love cranks against submission specialists. They usually put themselves in position for it while guarding against more common attacks.

I’ve heard that they’re “generally illegal,” but when it comes to specifics, you’d be surprised how seldom they’re actually mentioned. Three major local organizations in my city, and not one has rules prohibiting cranks.

Not surprising, considering how few people know about them. Every fighter I know who knows what a crank even is, I taught them.

Last I heard, FILA, NAGA, Grappler Quest, The US Judo and JJ organizations. I’m pretty sure BJJ would but have no direct experience there. Talking sanctioned competition, not junk yard dog gyms and/or combat or self defense. That was implied; sorry I didn’t make that scope clear.

Perhaps the fact that you taught the only people you know speaks to the point?

None of those organizations are relevant, as they aren’t governing MMA standards. None of the regional MMA promotions around me have rules against cranking the spine. I’ve checked. Thoroughly. They mostly have rules against initiating a technique intended to drop an opponent on their head – though if it happens in the course of reversing a technique of THEIRS, whatever. And they have rules against strangles, of course. Nothing whatsoever about cranking or wrenching or otherwise manipulating the spine.

As for the fact that cranks aren’t widely known in the US – so what? I’ve never been one to give up effective techniques because my opponent doesn’t know them. If I did, my stances would have to be retired since the 1980s. The martial arts world acts like it’s refining itself as the science of fighting while forgetting vast swaths of effective techniques because someone might get hurt. It’s sad.

And I dare say they’re as relevant to pro as mma is. More so in most cases. But what are these promotions? What style do practice, or what do the announcers bill you as? I’d be a bit leery of them myself. Like, why not go back to allowing knees to the head of a grounded opponent too? It’s ok to sever your spine but not scramble a few brain cells?

You said professional. I’m talking about amateur. I assumed you meant “professional” to differentiate from “amateur.” I’m not even sure what you’re talking about. Olympic-style matches? Intra-style competition?

The promotions I’m speaking of don’t have their own style. They host amateur fights. Those MMA fighters that are not yet paid to appear. There’s nothing inherently shady or substandard about them. There are SOME with certain ethical problems, granted (grrr), but not forbidding neck cranks isn’t exactly among them.

You lack experience with cranks, apparently. Yes, if done with absurdly excessive force, they could break the spine. In the same way, if you wrench an armbar too hard, you can destroy the shoulder and elbow. If you cinch in a choke too hard, you can cause damage to the neck’s structures and brain damage due to blocked blood flow. We’re not discussing games of pat-a-cake here. People can easily get hurt badly, often when submissions are done too forcefully. Fortunately, the spine is pretty flexible, and really hurting someone on accident with a neck crank is actually a lot harder than doing so with a lot of other submissions. Also, neck cranks cause people to submit REALLY FAST, because they’re terrifying. Most people I’ve applied them to don’t understand them, but they know it freaking hurts and they want to give in rather than let me control their head in that way, but they’re submitting well before the point of injury. I’d hurt the muscles along the spinal column (and possibly the deltoid) well before nerve damage. It’s safer than a sleeper, while being easier to apply and with a high rate of success.

Frankly, I’d suggest you look into them. I consider any fighter who doesn’t know a few neck cranks to have incomplete training. They’re solid gold.

Stranger and stranger. I know a half dozen ways to get a crank. That’s not the point. The point is the risk. A lot of holds are applied somewhat gently at first. AT first. That’s where we get the concepts of respecting the lock, and even more on point the tap or snap. But even so, unanticipated things happen and a broken neck is a risk to competitors not worth it as deemed by respected orgs.

And it’s strange to see this allowed when blood strangles are not. The sankanku and hadakajime are taught at level 3 and allowed in competition among many others.

Not seeing what’s so strange. Blood strangles are vastly more likely to cause accidental injury than neck cranks. They can easily cause lasting damage to the vital structures of the neck and to the brain if applied just a little too vigorously or for just a little too long. The unintentional injuries coming from neck cranks are far more likely to be to the muscles. In order to injure the spinal cord with a crank, you have to seriously want to, and frankly, it would be a lot easier to do it with a backbreaker or certain slams, which are also legal.

That’s why strangles are illegal in most MMA competition and cranks are not. I’m not sure where the confusion comes from here.

I’ve been over the rules codes with lawyers. (I didn’t have to pay for that, naturally – I hang out with lawyers, am becoming a lawyer.) Cranks are viable in any organization I’ll have to deal with. I’ve also gone over my moveset with doctors and physical therapists I know. Honestly, despite neck cranks being the core of my submission game, they don’t even rank in the top 3 ways I’m likely to injure the spine with perfectly legal moves.

That’s how it works in a sport based on causing physical trauma until the opponent can no longer continue. You’re not going to find a lot of perfectly safe moves. The most basic thing possible – the punch – can cause disfigurement of the face, brain damage, ruptures in the liver, kidneys, spleen, colon, etc. The job of the organizations promoting this sort of thing as a sport is to evaluate what techniques cause the most risk of accidental long-term injury and ban them. Strangles have been judged to meet that criteria. Cranks have been judged not to.

rumoryrumormillRA dot com claims Krystin has backstage heat with several grapplers in the back due to rumored unprofessional behavior behind the scenes which may or may not have invovled her former and/or current roomates. what has been confirmed is that taking the last donut that amanda breaker had called dibs on several weeks ago is not the issue referred to according to people who know people who stood next to people that spent a day working catering in RA once.

These two are going to be putting on a clinic of mat wrestling, trouble is, their skill sets are so identical, every time one is able to get something locked in, the other already knows the counter. I think the winner of this match is going to be whoever can take a few steps out of their comfort zone and catch their opponent by surprise.

It’s looking that way, doesn’t it. Maybe they trained in the same gym?

You see this a little less often or strongly when people from different styles roll. Submission grapplers have pretty much the same locks and tosses but set them up differently or tend to favor some things over others.